Planes landing, taking off at Logan

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People checked in and lined up for security at Logan Airport on Sunday.

By Katie K. JohnstonGlobe Staff
February 10, 2013

About a dozen planes had landed at Logan International Airport, and several had been reloaded with passengers and taken off again, by 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The airport had one runway open and was prepared to open a second when demand warranted. “The airlines are telling us they expect to be back at full operation by the end of the day,” said Matthew Brelis, spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.

Logan closed overnight Friday into Saturday as whiteout conditions forced crews to stop clearing the airfield, and wasn’t able to reopen until 11 p.m. on Saturday – the longest the airport has been closed in at least 10 years. Across the country, more than 6,600 flights were canceled on Friday and Saturday, according to FlightStats, and hundreds more are expected today.

Logan’s biggest carrier, JetBlue Airways, canceled slightly more than half of its 200 inbound and outbound Friday flights, and all of its 170 flights on Saturday. After bringing in its first plane Sunday around 4:30 a.m., from Aruba, the carrier expects to operate 60 percent of its 70 flights on Sunday.

Delta Air Lines brought in a charter from Cleveland around 1 a.m., its first mainline flight from Salt Lake City at 7 a.m., and plans to maintain its regular schedule for the rest of the day. American Airlines brought in its first flight, from New York, Sunday around 9 a.m., and expects to operate about 60 percent of its 31 flights on Sunday.

Crews have been working around the clock at Logan, clearing the airfield, piling snow from the runways and ramp areas into mounds, then using front-end loaders to put the snow into melters. Out on the airfield, Brelis was happy to see planes lined up on the airfield. “It’s a beautiful sight.”